“But in the past six months, we have seen an increase in dog fouling offences, which are notoriously difficult to enforce. We intend to support our council partners by working on dog fouling as a priority in the areas that are worst affected.

“Dog owners who do not clean up behind their animals are often difficult to detect, as routine patrols will always be time consuming in comparison with the number of offences detected.”

“There has been a considerable reduction in complaints received about dog control issues on leisure land,” he said.

“In the first 10 months of the joint working initiative with XFOR, eight times as many fixed penalty notices have been issued for dog fouling as were issued by the local authority in the previous 12 months.

“XFOR enforcement officers are a presence that deters would-be litterers as well as irresponsible dog owners committing these offences.”

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